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College Football Teams Struggle to Share Defeat on Facebook

College football programs have taken well to Facebook in recent years as a way to elicit rah-rah enthusiasm before big games and pump up the fresh hope of a new season. Posts, links and photos tout sellout crowds, hype star players and bestow epic levels of importance upon season openers.

But what if a new season's optimistic outlook gets deflated with a disappointing first-game loss? A quick look across the national landscape of college football teams on Facebook after the sport's opening weekend shows staffs wrestling with how much to acknowledge a loss in the unrelentingly positive world of social media content marketing.

The University of Houston Cougars, for example, led the nation in scoring offense last season but suffered an embarrassing 30-13 loss to tiny Texas State on Saturday. But their Facebook page makes no mention of the game's outcome, despite a handful of posts beforehand. The University of Pittsburgh Panthers page tells -- or doesn't tell -- a similar story.

Moving away from the far end of the stonewalling spectrum, the University of California Golden Bears lost to underdog Nevada this weekend -- an especially bitter disappointment for fans given that it was the first game back at a heavily renovated home stadium. The Cal Facebook page's first postgame update reads, "Thank you to the 63,186 fans who came out strong yesterday for the opening of new Memorial Stadium." But it does not mention that the opening ended in a loss.

A quick postgame update delivered the final score before a silent Sunday. Then on Monday morning -- after a post that welcomed both positive and negative comments from fans but asked them to remain respectful -- the team shared a video of head coach Doug Marrone talking about the loss. In the 52-second video, a measured and concise Marrone discusses what the team did well, the breakdowns that led to defeat and next week's game.

"Obviously we're all unhappy, obviously we're disappointed," he tells fans. "But my message to the team and coaches were, 'It's understandable to feel that way, but the one thing we can't be is discouraged. We have to keep working and moving on.'"

Perhaps that's the best way to go about it. Fans are used to updates via Facebook, and obviously know about an important loss. Hearing directly from a coach can help the team control the story and make fans feel connected, valued and informed. That's likely much more valuable from a branding and engagement standpoint than simple radio silence from a team's main social portal after a disappointing defeat.

How do you think college sports teams should manage their social media presence following a big loss? Give us your take in the comments.

A federal judge in Michigan on Wednesday revoked his order requiring a recount of the state's presidential vote sought by Jill Stein, siding with a state appeals court that found the Green Party candidate had no grounds to mount the challenge. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith's ruling has the effect of halting the recount in Michigan, at least for now, following conflicting rulings a day earlier by federal and state appeals courts. The Michigan Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered the recount stopped, while the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Goldsmith's earlier decision and said the process should proceed.

After inadvertently sending out a promotional email on Wednesday regarding the NES Classic Edition, Best Buy sent out a clarification email later in the day to confirm that it would in fact have the hard-to-find console in stock at retail stores beginning on December 20th.
Last night, Oscar Muñoz ( @oscarinmv on Twitter ) received an email from Best Buy informing him that the NES Classic Edition would be "available in all Best Buy stores tomorrow, December 20." At the time, "tomorrow" was actually December 8th, which explains why Best Buy had to send another email minutes later explaining that NES Classic Edition consoles would actually be in stores on the 20th (via: @matthewrex ).
https://twitter.com/matthewrex/status/806661882941583360
Unsurprisingly, there will be limited quantities available, so if you want to grab an NES Classic Edition from Best Buy later this month, you'll probably need to be at your local store the minute it opens.
Nothing in the email suggests that any stock will be available on BestBuy.com , but it still might be worth keeping an eye out on the website come December 20th. We'll be sure to update this post if we hear anything definitive about the NES Classic Edition coming to Best Buy's website.
If you don't want to wait that long, Amazon said on Twitter earlier this week that it would have "exciting announcements to make in the coming week" for NES Classic Edition fans. We won't know for sure until the retailer shares more details, but we have to assume that means Amazon will have more units soon as well.

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager says the president-elect has already accomplished more in the month since his election than President Obama has in the last four years. “Donald Trump, in the first four weeks of his presidency, has done more to help this country than I think Barack Obama has done in the last four years,” Corey Lewandowski said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday. Lewandowski, an informal Trump adviser expected to join his administration, said Trump has a shown a stronger “commitment” to the U.S. military and American businesses than the Obama administration’s second term by vowing “to reduce the amount of government regulations so they can continue to grow” at a rate higher than the current economy.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man convicted of killing a store clerk is scheduled to be executed Thursday, but lawyers for the former Eagle Scout are urging it be blocked because a judge overrode a jury recommendation in imposing the death sentence.

Pakistani military helicopters on Thursday, Dec., 8, ferried remains of plane crash victims to the capital, Islamabad, as aviation authorities said they opened a probe into the crash that killed 47 passengers and crew the day before in the country’s northwest. The small twin-propeller aircraft was traveling from the scenic mountain resort city of Chitral to Islamabad on Wednesday when one of its engines failed shortly after takeoff and crashed in the hillside village of Gug in the district of, according to Pervez George of the Civil Aviation Authority. The plane belonged to the Pakistani national carrier, the Pakistan International Airlines, and had 42 passengers and five crew members on board, PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani said. (AP) See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr .

A U.S. Marine pilot who ejected from an F/A-18 fighter jet off the eastern coast of Japan has been confirmed dead after being recovered earlier on Thursday by a Japanese naval vessel, military officials said. The Marine Corps identified Captain Jake Frederick as the pilot who ejected from his F/A-18C+ fighter aircraft after it went down 120 miles off the coast of Iwakuni, Japan. The Japanese Defense Ministry had announced earlier in the day that a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ship had recovered Frederick.

Christmas decoration is displayed at the Christmas market near the ‘Marienplatz’ square in Munich, Germany; a fan dressed as a stormtrooper waves a mini light saber during the Japan premiere of ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ in Tokyo, Japan; and a view of light shining through a gate during a media preview event for the new summer exhibition ‘Versailles: Treasures from the Palace’ at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia are some of the photos of the day. (AP/EPA/Getty/Reuters) See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr.